No Longer Alone
by bittrswtsilnc
Summary: He was too stubborn to admit; that he, Daryl Dixon; had any type of feelings for anyone. Everyone he ever had in his life has let him down in some way, shape or form. He was never able to allow anyone to get close. Now, at the end of the world, he found someone who was almost as damaged as he is. And he found it in a 40-something year old married woman, with a 12 year old daughter.
1. No Longer Alone

He was too stubborn to admit; that he, Daryl Dixon; had any type of feelings for anyone. Everyone he ever had in his life has let him down in some way, shape or form. He was never able to allow anyone to get close.

His tragic childhood with spent with an abusive, alcoholic father; his mother who was never really there mentally, beaten into a shell of a person by her husband; and a brother was more concerned about getting his next fix; may it be a hit off a blunt, temporary hiatus from reality with a bottle of pills, or some tramp that would allow him to bury all of his issues into her for a short period of time.

His other brother Merle practically abandoned him as soon as he was able to. As soon as Merle turned 17, he was out the door. He had had enough of their father's abuse, leaving Daryl to be the old man's punching bag. Merle came back at the age of 22, when Daryl was 14, and walked into their father unleashing his drunken wrath upon Daryl.

Their father went to attack Daryl with his eager fist, when Merle jumped in and grabbed the older drunk man's hand. He twisted his father's arm behind his back, twisting him around. When the old man attempted to attack him, Merle quickly grabbed the empty beer bottle that was on the night stand next to the couch. The bottle collided with his father's head. The force of the blow knocked the man off his not so steady feet, causing him to stumble backwards, tripping over Daryl's legs behind him, and fell hitting his head on the coffee table behind him. An eerie crack followed, and he knew he just killed his father.

Daryl was able to shuffle quickly away before his father fell on top of him. He looked up at Merle in shock. He then turned towards their father. He looked at the good for nothing man, looked for a pulse, and confirmed what they both thought. He was dead. The man who fathered both of them, who also was responsible in their mother's death by suicide, was now dead.

Merle walked out the door, heading to the crumbling garage on the outskirts of the property. There he found a gas can. He returned to the house, pour gas all over the living room. Daryl looked at him, with a puzzled look, not fully grasping what was happening. Merle advised him to grab whatever he thought he would need to live, as he was about to torch this place and all the memories that this shack contained.

Daryl ran to his room, grabbed some clothes, and shoved it into an old beat up backpack. He also grabbed a picture of their mother from better times, when she was happy, before their father beat the life out of her. She was holding Daryl as a baby, and Merle was smiling a toothless grin. After confirming that Daryl got everything he needed, Merle dropped the cigarette he just finished smoking, and then soon found their "home" if that is what you wanted to call it, up in flames.

Now, almost 30 years later, he was alone in this world again. Merle was gone _again_. His mouth got him in trouble again, and it landed him handcuffed to the top a building in Atlanta. After He reached into his vest pocket, and pulled out that picture of his mother, staring at it. That picture definitely reflected happier times. Better than what he found himself surrounded by now.

No one ever thought that a Dixon would or could amount to anything. He has had that thought drilled into his head ever since he was born.

Now, at the end of the world, he found someone who was almost as damaged as he is. And he found it in a 40-something year old married woman, with a 12 year old daughter. He was finally no longer alone.


	2. Crack That Shell

***AN – This is going to go a little slow at first, as I am trying to establish a ground level. Some of the plot, you will recognize, but some will be a little different. That's the beauty of a fanfic. We can create the story we want to see. Anyways, bear with me. It will get good soon! ;) ***

All he had ever known was loneliness. Sure, he had his brother, but he was as reliable as a Wikipedia article on a college research paper. His mouth got him in more trouble than it was worth. It has been a few months since he last saw his brother. When they returned to the rooftop where Rick handcuffed him to, all they found was his hand. Not exactly what you would want to find, considering that he was expecting to see his brother there. It was at least better to see the hand, then seeing his brother's body eaten by walkers. Daryl knew his brother was alive, he just didn't know where he was. The Dixons are survivalists. Life with their father forced that on them.

The only good thing their father ever taught them was the ability to track. That came in handy in these times. Sitting outside around a camp fire with some people he only recently met few months ago. The last few months have definitely rocked his entire world. Guess that's what happens at the end of the world. He was eating some of the fish that was caught earlier today. Some of the guys from the group were able to find some canned veggies while on their last run. When the guys returned with them, the women's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. The kids, well, they weren't so happy. They thought they escaped from the vegetables. Contrary to the kids wants, the green beans were currently being heated up in a pot above the fire.

His thoughts were interrupted by Carol. "Uh, Daryl, would you like some green beans?" Daryl grunted and nodded his head. Carol dished out some on to the tray he was eating off of. Daryl mumbled a thank you, and Carol just smiled to him. Conversation wasn't really needed between them. They enjoyed the comfortable silence together. A few months ago, when some walkers attacked their camp outside of Atlanta, he came to her rescue. There was one about to bite her, when an arrow when through its head. Since then Carol respected him and always made sure he had what he needed.

That night claimed many lives. Andrea's sister, Amy; Jim was scratched, which later lead to the fever, the next morning; he asked to be left behind so that he can die peacefully. Everyone was affected by that night. Carol lost her husband that night. It was actually a blessing in disguise. Ed was a nasty, bitter, sexist, wife beating bastard. The walkers actually did Carol a favor that night. The next day, they were clearing up the walkers and the bodies of the friends and family members who didn't make it the night prior. Daryl walked over to the body of Ed, and was about to smash in his head to make sure that he was truly dead.

Carol noticed this, and walked up to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, which made him jump. He wasn't used to anyone touching him, but Carol was different. He turned towards her, noticed that it was her. At first, he was angry, but when he realized that it was Carol, he calmed down. She was different. She was like him. They were both damaged. They understood each other in ways that normal people won't. It was weird to have someone else understand what it is like to be told that you were a useless individual that didn't deserve to be born.

Daryl looked at her, her eyes pleaded to him to let her take care of Ed. Looking over at her; he realized that she needed to be the one who took care of him. Daryl grunted and handed her the shovel. She smiled, and was about to use it, but the pickaxe that was nearby caught her eye. She forced the shovel into the ground near Ed. Daryl looked over at her with a puzzled look on his face. She walked over to the pickaxe and grabbed it. She struggled to get the pickaxe out of the ground, but it was embedded into the soil deep. Looking up towards Daryl, Carol spoke up "Mind helping me?" Daryl walked over to her, and helped her remove it from the ground. Carol slowly walked over to Ed's body, and stood over his body. "This is for you, you son of a bitch!" She forcefully swung the pickaxe into Ed's head. He looked over at Carol with disbelief, more shocked by the fact that she actually said something mean. Every time she ever spoke, which was not very often, she would always have something nice to say. At that moment, Daryl realized that she kept quiet to stay out of trouble. That's when he also realized just how similar they were.

He stood there watching as Carol repeatedly attacked the body of her husband with the pick axe. She was crying at this point. Tears of regret? Tears of frustration? When he heard her laugh, he realized that it was tears of joy. She was finally free of him. She was bent over her husband's body, when Daryl placed his hand over hers on the handle of the axe. "That's enough, he can't feel the pain. I know. I've been there." Daryl quietly spoke. Carol looked up towards him, dropped her hands from the handle of the weapon, which was still embedded in Ed's brain, and slowly walked away.

Carol knew he understood the pain she went through. She didn't need to see physical scars, as she knows he has them. Those are easy to hide. Whenever Ed hit her, he made sure to hit her where the bruises could be covered. She lived with that for many years. She knew how it felt to hide the scars.

Emotional scars are the ones you can't hide. They were out on display like the Mona Lisa is at the Louvre Art Museum. To others, he appears like a man who not to be messed with, but Carol sees him differently. She sees the real him. She sees him as an individual with a past, a bad past, one he wishes he could hide permanently. They are practically the same person. They are both survivors. The only problem was breaking through that tough exterior. She quietly laughs to herself, determined to crack that shell.


	3. That Little Red Shirt

***AN – I just wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself to everyone… My name is Karen; I am a misplaced Jersey Girl currently live in Illinois. Yesterday was my 28th birthday. My older brother John is the one I blame for my addiction to TWD… It is his fault, and he admits to it. Haha!**

**Anyways, I love the complexity of characters that are in TWD. They make it fun to write stories like this one. They allow you to create a backstory, one that you wish that the writers of the show would see and go "Hey! That chick has a great idea! Let's use it!" ß If that was the case, Caryl would have in existence since season 2.**

**Also a shout out to adelicateflower08 for being my first reviewer! It made my day to see a review… Mucho love!**

**And to my followers, "HI!" *waves hand feverously***

**I write to escape from my lil world… it allows me to explain what I wish TWD would do… Well, a girl can dream anyways… Isn't that what Disney taught us?! ;]**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own the characters of TWD, and this little fic is based out of the depths of my crazy lil mind… (Some people may fear that… lol)**

**Anyways… back to the story… I know they did make it to the highway when Sophia went missing practically at the beginning of the show, but for the little story I have in my mind, this happened a few months down the line. So bear with me, it will all work out. I promise!***

Chapter 3

After a long discussion, the group decided that they needed to leave the camp they established outside of Atlanta. The women were afraid that there was going to be another attack. They rightfully feared for the lives of their families. After packing up all of the items they had at the camp, they all got into the vehicles they were able to gather up, and headed to Fort Benning. They finally made it to the highway, following Daryl on Merle's motorcycle.

Everyone else is following behind him; he was enjoying the wind in his hair. Riding the bike was his way of escaping, and who would blame him. The world literally went to hell… Why not enjoy the simple pleasures. No one knows where they will be the next day, or even if they will live to see the next day. That thought was on everyone's mind. Looking ahead, he saw a pile up of vehicles. Raising up his left hand, he signaled to Dale to slow down the procession. "Just when I was loving the breeze" he grumbled as he got off his bike.

Once all of the vehicles were stopped, the group all got together in a little huddle.

"This place is a gold mine, look at all these cars! They must have something!" Shane spoke up. "Not to mention, we can siphon the gas from these cars, and think of the supplies, and food we can find. I don't know about you, but you can only eat so many squirrels." Daryl shot him a dirty look.

"Fine, I'll catch only enough for everyone else. Apparently you are too good for Rocky." Shane gave him a puzzled look. Carol caught on and laughed. "Rocky, as in Rocky and Bullwinkle. He was a squirrel." That earned a chuckle from everyone in the group. It only pissed Shane off, he shot Daryl and Carol a dirty look. "Calm down the hell down, Shane, she was only kidding" Rick spoke up, "There is no need to be so serious all the time, Walsh…"

"How can you of all people say something like that, Rick? The world is a living hell, and you want us to think of nothing but rainbows and sunshine? Ha! Looks like I am the only one who can be serious. Everyone else wants to laugh all this shit off. Last time I checked, laughing is not going to bring Amy, Ed, and Jim back!"

"Why must you be such an insensitive jackass, Shane?!" Andrea yelled, and stormed her way into the RV, slammed the door in the process.

Lori looked over at her husband's best friend, and pleaded to him with her eyes. Shane wasn't letting up, so Lori turned away and headed back to the RV to console her friend.

Carol stood there and mumbled to herself, "Probably because he isn't getting any since Rick got back." Daryl was close enough to hear what she had said, and chuckled lightly. Carol's eyes got wide when she heard his chuckle. She didn't think anyone was close enough to hear her. She quickly turned around to find Daryl right behind her, leaning on the hood of an abandoned car. Standing there arms folded, legs spread out like he owned the place, and with a cocky smile on his face. The Georgia sun hit his brown hair just right, where it appeared like he had a halo above his head.

A gentle pull on her shirt snapped her back into reality. She turned around to see her daughter standing there. Carol squatted down to her daughter's level, "Yes baby?" Sophia looked down at the ground, and then looked up. "Can I go and play with Carl over there" pointing towards the grassy patch on the side of the road, near the woods. Carol looked over at Carl; his face showed the same look Lori just had looking over at Shane. Sighing, she relented "Yes, but let Rick know where you two are going so we can both keep an eye out on you two."

Sophia ran away with a smile on her face. A light chuckle was heard behind her. Carol turned around and saw him standing there still all cocky, "Sucker." Daryl laughed. "I'm a sucker? How so?" Carol replied. "All they had to do was look at you with puppy dog eyes, and you melted. " "Was it wrong to want to see the kids enjoy the calm in this hell hole?" Daryl shrugged his shoulders, and grinned. "You know what they say about the calm?" "Yes, don't remind me. Now let's go look into these cars and find us some stuff we may need." Carol said walking past her. Daryl chuckled as he turned to follow her, throwing the crossbow over his shoulder.

Rick called out to Carol "Where are you guys going?" "Just going to search these cars for anything good that we may need." Daryl said "Don't worry, Imma gonna go with her." That made Carol smile. It shocked her that he even gave her the time of day. Ed has always told her that she was a useless human being that was taking up air some other person could be using. She only stayed to keep Sophia safe, and was planning her escape when the world went to hell. She was working on the side while he was at work, trying to save up money to take Sophia and run as fast and as far as possible. That day never came.

Was it wrong that she was grateful that when that walker found Ed and decided to turn him into its snack?

She was lost in thought when Daryl snapped her back into reality. "Hello? You there?" "Hmph, oh yes… sorry. I was lost in my own world there for a moment." Daryl chuckled and walked over to the first car. "Check the trunk, I will get the inside." Opening the front door of the car, he pressed the button to unlock the trunk. Before he could realize it, the body inside the car reanimated. "Fuck!" Daryl yelled. The walker grabbed his hair, and was going in to bite him. Before he was able to respond to it, he felt blood fall onto his sleeve.

Daryl muttered "Son of a bitch, that was close!" as the walker's grasp was released from his head. He looked up to find Carol's knife in the walker's head. He looked over at her, and thanked her with his eyes. "We are not separating again, we need to stick together. We are not telling anyone about this." Carol understood. They searched the rest of the car for items, and then proceeded to the truck. In the trunk, they found a suitcase with clothes in it.

Pulling out a shirt, Carol admired it. "I like this shirt," Carol paused, looking at the tag. "And it's my size!" she chuckled. "Ed would never me wear anything like this. He always said that I wasn't anything worth looking at, so why bother." Carol placed it back into the suitcase and went to search for other more important things in the inside of the vehicle. Daryl grumbled, looked over to see that Carol wasn't looking in his direction. He grabbed the shirt, balled it up, and shoved it in his pocket.


	4. Cops & Walkers

***AN – sorry that these chapters are coming to you slowly. Real life has a tendency to get in my way… I'm the maid of honor in one of my friend's weddings in 6 weeks, so it's crunch time… For those who have been part of a wedding, you would understand…**

**And not only that, I go to college online, and this week is finals week… ugh…***

Rick saw that they were looking into the vehicles for useful items, and he didn't want to be useless.

"Hey Dale, can you watch the kids while I go looking for stuff and things?" Dale responded by shaking his head.

"Hey T-Dog, Shane, and Glenn; let's go through these cars and look for some supplies."

"Already on it" Glenn replied, walking over with a gas can. "We might as well get some of this gas from these cars; we don't know when we will be able to find any again." Rick smiled, "Good idea, Glenn."

Shane looked over at the two with disgust. "That's the way we used to be" he thought to himself. "I need to get away from this crap, now that he's back; no one listens to me, and that is not gonna work. I'm a leader, not a damn pansy ass follower!" he mumbled as he walked away from the group. Looking around at the abandoned vehicles, he spotted a light green SUV. Walking over to it, he admired the condition of the vehicle. It appeared to be fresh off the showroom floor. "Might as well look good, even though it is the end of the world." Shane laughed to himself.

Looking inside the cabin if the car, nothing seemed out of sorts. There were no bodies, just some knick knacks from the owners who apparently abandoned the vehicle. Surprisingly, the driver's side door was unlocked when he tried it. He cautiously opened the door, and heard the familiar ding a car makes when the keys are left in the ignition.

Sure enough, when he leaned over, he saw a keychain full of keys dangling from the ignition. Hanging from the keychain was a cross. "Jesus ain't gonna save any of us now." Shane mumbled as he tried to turn on the vehicle. The engine tried to turn over, but was not able to. Shane looked at the gauges and noticed that it was out of gas. Makes sense as to why the car was abandoned. Walking behind the car, he spotted Glenn getting gas out of an older abandoned car.

"Hey, come over here, this car needs gas, and I bet this will get us further than any of those old pieces of crap we have. Glenn looked over at him, and realized that the man did have a point. Walking over to the Tucson, he also gave the car the look over. "Nice wheels, sad that it is stuck here."

"Well, help me get it unstuck, and give it some gas." As he popped open the gas door.

Glenn sighed and knew he wasn't going to win any battles against the man, so he relented. "I wasn't able to get much yet, but probably enough to get it out of this area."

"Well, that is all I need for right now. I want to check to see how well this baby works."

After Glenn put what gas he was able to get out of the one vehicle into the Tucson. Shane turned the key, and the engine turned over, and it purred like a kitten. "Oh yea!" Shane said as he jumped into the driver's seat. "That is what I am talking about." Driving the SUV over to where the other vehicles and the RV were parked, he got out and had a big grin on his face. Rick looked over at him, and smiled. "Good job, now we can reduce the stockpile of these older vehicles, and use that."

"That was my plan." Shane nodded.

**~NLA~**

"Ok Carl, we have to be quiet so none of those icky dead things to come out of the woods and get us."

"I didn't have friends that were girls back home, so I got no clue." Carl shrugged his shoulders. "All I do know, is I don't wanna play dolls or girlie things like that." Sophia huffed. "I don't have any dolls with me, other than this one," pointing to the stuffed doll she was holding on to that the Morales' daughter gave her before they left to meet up with their family in Alabama.

"Have you ever wondered what happened to Eliza and her family?" "Nah, I haven't. But to think about it, I hope they made it to Alabama." Carl sighed, followed by another shrug of his shoulders. "Well, why waste time, wanna play Cops and Robbers?" Sophia suggested. "How about Cops and Walkers?" Carl suggested, twisting the traditional game with reality of life that they all now face. "Sure! You be the walker first!" "Nah uh! I don't wanna!" Carl whined. Putting her hands on her hips, Sophia exhaled. "Didn't your momma ever teach you manners? Ladies first?"

Carl rolled his eyes at her, "Fine."

**~NLA~**

Dale, the oldest one of the group, sometimes thought of the moral compass of the group, watched as Sophia placed her hands on her hips, say something, and Carl relenting.

"Already like his father." Dale laughed to himself. Looking through his binoculars from the top of the RV, he spotted a walker. Calling down to Rick, "We got one heading our way, 10 o'clock." Rick turned around, walked down the row of cars, and swiftly took down the walker. Dale looked around spotted another, sent Rick that direction and down the walker went.

Heading back towards the RV, Rick climbed up the ladder on the side of the RV, and stood on the top of the RV. Looking around, he spotted Shane. Rick let out a single whistle, which caused Shane to look directly at him. Pointing to his face, and then out to the area around him. Shane shook his head, and was in cop mode.

**~NLA~**

Daryl walked around the next vehicle inspecting the inside to make sure that there was nothing that was going to cause any problems. There was nobody in the vehicle, so all is good. Carol and he made quick work of the vehicles out there, finding food and warmer clothes as the winter was approaching. It wasn't until a high pitched scream came piercing through the calm air. Carol quickly turned around, as she recognized the voice. "My baby!" Carol yelled as she dropped everything and ran in the direction of her daughter, with Daryl in hot pursuit.


	5. Her New Reality

***AN – I am sorry for taking so long for the update, but I made this one long to make up for it. Enjoy! Please review if you like this story, so I know I am doing something everyone likes…**

**And hello all new followers and thanks to all of those who favorited my story. It makes me smile!**

**SN – I was listening to "Stand Back Up" by Sugarland, and it reminded me of Carol. Let me know what you think… ***

**Chapter 5**

It was all just a blur. All she could see was Sophia running into the woods, and three walkers behind her. Carl was able to take one of them down. Rick run past them, following Sophia into the woods. She ran until she reached the guard rail, soon her knees gave out, dropping her down to the asphalt; tears streaming down her face, body shuddering from all the pain in her heart. Daryl looked down, not knowing what to do. Lori and Andrea came running out of the RV, and surrounded her. Lori looked up at Daryl, begging for some space, which he gave them.

Still not knowing what truly happened, he walked over to a very shaken up Carl and asked him what happened. "All I know is that we were playing Cops and Walkers, and she backed up, tripped over something, and ended up next to a walker. And that's when you heard her scream. After that, it was all messed up. Next thing I know, I took down one of the walkers, and two others followed her into the woods. Then my dad ran past me."

**~NLA~**

Knowing that noise draw walkers, Rick knew he had to get close to them to get them off Sophia's tail. Having the upper hand of speed, he ran through the woods, following the walkers, knowing that they were near Sophia. Looking to the right, he saw a blue shirt run past him.

In the panic of the situation, Sophia ran as fast as she could, constantly looking behind her as she ran. Next thing she knew she was on the ground. Her foot got caught by a root. After she was able to release her foot from the tree root, she started running further away, and turned back to see where the walkers were when her body connected with something else. She screamed, only to be hushed by Rick.

Bear hugging her, he spoke quietly. "Shhhh… Are you all right, are you okay?" Rick tried to calm her down. Reaching towards Rick's gun, Sophia pleaded for Rick to shoot them. "No, noise draws them. We have to get close to them to kill them. We need to get you away from here. Sophia tried to resist, but he grabbed a hold of her, and picked her up off her feet, carrying her. Looking down at Sophia, he noticed that her eyes were bugging out. Looking up in the direction that Sophia was looking, he noticed that the walkers were closing in. Climbing down into the shallow river, they found a small opening that the trees made with their roots. Shoving Sophia into the opening, "Stay here, I will get rid of them." He whispered.

Running towards the walkers, he made as much noise as he could. His goal was to draw them away from Sophia. The first walker slowly turned its head in the direction of the noise, let out a moan, and started towards Rick. The other one soon followed. Remembering the pocket knife he had from the police station, he closed in on the first walker. In a quick swift movement, he stabbed the walker in its eye. The walker quickly fell to the ground. Bending over to get the knife out of the walker, the other one closed in. He was interrupted by another scream, and heard running in the water.

After removing the knife from the walker, he quickly spun around and took down the other walker. Running down to the river, he couldn't see Sophia. "Fuck!" he yelled.

**~NLA~**

Lori handed her a tissue, which Carol accepted willingly. Dabbing her blood shot eyes, sitting on the ground, rocking slowly front and back. Andrea had her arm draped over her shoulder. "Don't worry, Rick will find her. He found this little boy who was about Sophia's age, and was missing for a few days. He never gave up. He worked from sun up to sun down looking for him." Carol looked up at Lori, smiled a little, and looked back down at the ground.

Shane was patrolling around, and had just taken down a walker. "Ugly bastard." He muttered as the body fell down to the pavement. Glenn walked over to Shane, "Do you think he will find her?" Shane huffed, "Yea, I do. That's one thing that Rick does do right. He always finds what he is looking for. We are talking about the same guy who found his family nearly 100 miles away from the hospital he was in for over a month, at the end of the world." Glenn shook his head understand what Shane meant.

There was some trees moving and Andrea thought that more walkers were coming, but when Carol saw Rick walk up the embankment without Sophia, she started to cry some more. "My baby…" she whimpered into Lori's shoulder. Lori looked up at Rick with pleading eyes. "I had her, and then more walkers came, so I had to distract them. I was able to take them down, but I left her in an opening that was in the roots of the trees. She must have come across some more walkers, because I heard a scream and running through the water. I had walkers practically on top of me, so I couldn't get to her. I'm sorry Carol. I am not giving …" His sentence was interrupted by Dale calling his name. "Walkers! A bunch of them!" Rick grabbed Lori from the ground, and Carl followed his parents. Andrea grabbed Carol and crawled under the abandoned vehicles. Shane heard the warning, grabbing Glenn who was searching through a nearby car. They retreated to under a truck.

T-Dog ran as fast as he could, and tried to hide behind a car door. The window of the car door was broken, and the glass sliced his arm open. "Fuck!" T-Dog yelled, grabbed onto his arm, to try and stop the gushing blood. The smell of the blood drew a nearby walker closer, and T-Dog thought he was their next snack. Daryl saw T-Dog with a walker coming up on him, and used the baseball bat that he found in an abandoned vehicle, and swung it at the walker's head. That didn't kill the walker, but it did cause it to fall down. He grabbed his knife out of his belt, and shoved it into the walker's eye. "Get down" he growled at T-Dog. T-Dog listened, and laid down on the pavement. He winced in pain, and Daryl threw the body of the walker he just killed on top of him. Daryl grabbed another nearby body, and used it to cover himself with it.

They all watched as the herd of walkers slowly made their way past them. Carol was still crying, but her mouth was covered by Andrea's hand. Tears ran down her face, knowing her daughter was alone in the woods.

**~NLA~**

Sophia looked behind her, the walker was gone. Somehow she lost the walker in the woods. She made her way down the river, which lead into a lake. At the other side of the lake, was a dock. Shortly behind the dock, was a house. Sophia practically cried from the excitement of finding the house, and all she needed to do was swim across the lake to get to the house. She wasn't the strongest swimmer, but she did remember what her mother taught her. She started swimming towards the dock, when she saw a walker on the edge of the lake, near the house. It didn't seem to have noticed her, but she panicked a little. "Calm down, Sophia…" She spoke to herself, remembering what her mom had told her when she had a panic attack in the past.

Breathing in and out calmly, she was able to relax. Looking around, she swam a little further, slowly reaching closer and closer to the dock. When she finally reached the dock, she pulled herself up and out of the water. Standing there soaking wet, she sighed. "I hate being wet." Walking slowly towards the house, she checked the outside. She didn't see any walkers. The one she was while swimming must have made its way elsewhere. She breathed a sigh of relief. She made her way to the steps of the house. The steps creaked, which made her jump. "Quit being so jumpy!" she spoke to herself again. Looking to her left, and then to the right, and then behind her, just making sure that nothing was around her. She grabbed the door knob, and slowly opened the door.

The door opened into the living room. The room was sparsely furnished, but enough that she felt okay by her surroundings. Walking around the room, she noticed the fireplace. Next to the fireplace was a fire poker. She grabbed that, just in case she came across any walkers.

**~NLA~**

Dale slowly made his way up to check the surroundings. There was nothing on the horizon. He signaled to the group that the coast was clear, so he climbed down from the top of the RV and regrouped with everyone. T-Dog got his arm patched up to the best of their abilities, and was given medication by Daryl from Merle's stash. Apparently Merle needed antibiotics on a regular basis, and Daryl knew where he hid his stash.

Rick and Daryl decided to head into the woods to see if they could follow her. Shane stayed with everyone else to watch the group. He took watch on top of the RV, to gave Dale a break from watch. Carol went into the RV with Lori to try and calm down. Andrea went with Glenn to search the abandoned cars for food. They were able to find some stuff, including some water and other items like knifes and other useful tools.

The sun was starting to set when Daryl and Rick came back. Glenn called into the RV, letting Carol and Lori know they were back. Carol ran out of the RV hoping to see Sophia there, but she wasn't. Rick enveloped her in a hug, and explained what happened while searching the woods. "I showed Daryl where I left her, and we followed a trail down the river, and we came across a walker. We gutted him to make sure that he didn't get to Sophia." "All he got was a woodchuck." Daryl spoke up. "I am sure she is still out there and safe. We're going to look again once the sun rises, as it is hard to search without light.

Daryl looked over at Carol, tried to offer a comforting smile, but he didn't want anyone else to see it, so it was gone before Carol could see it. T-Dog walked over to Carol, enveloping her into a big bear hug. "Don't worry Carol, we will find her. Just keep faith."

**~NLA~**

Looking through the window of the living room, she noticed that the sun was setting. This was the first time she spent a night away from her mother. She was sitting on the floor, shivering as her clothes were still damp from her earlier swim. Determined to find something else to wear, or at least something warmer, she walked up the stairs. She found a bathroom, which had some towels, so she dried herself off the best that she could. After wrapping herself in a towel, she grabbed the poker, and proceeded down the hallway to what appeared to be a bedroom.

She slowly opened the door. It opened into a small bedroom. It appeared to be a kid's bedroom. Nothing seems to out of place. There were some toys on the ground, and some clothes in the closet. Looking in the closet, she found a t-shirt that was a size too big for her, but it was dry. She quickly changed out of her damp shirt. Looking further in the closet, she found some shorts. Luckily, they had an elastic waistband, so they fit her small waist. It felt so good to be out of her dirty, damp clothes. She sat down on the bed in the room. It was hard, but it was a God send compared to the sleeping bag she had been calling her bed for the past few months. "I can make this work." Grabbing my wet clothes from the floor, she headed down the stairs.

Turning left at the bottom of the stairs, she walked towards what she thought was the dining room. Passing through the dining room, she entered the kitchen. Hearing her stomach growling, she reached for the cabinet above the stove, and didn't find anything. She continued to search the cabinets for something to eat. She didn't know how long she was going to be here, but at least she had some shelter over her head. Opening up the cabinet next to the fridge, she found a few cans of vegetables and 2 cans of spam. Not exactly impressed with her find, but she grabbed the can of spam and opened it. There was a weird processed meat smell coming from the can, so she pinching her nose, she pulled the spam out of the can, and bit into it. It is not something she would eat on a regular basis by choice, but neither was squirrel. After living in the group with Daryl, she has grown accustomed to eating things that she would have never eaten in the world before walkers.

After she finished her dinner, she walked up to the bedroom and fought sleep the entire night, dreaming that she was being chased by walkers, and there was no one around to protect her. She woke up screaming when she realized that her dream was her new reality.


	6. Sense and Sensibility

**AN: So sorry for taking so long. I hope you all like it. I do. Do your thing... Don't forget to review me! :)**

**Chapter 6**

Carol wasn't able to sleep very well that night, worried about Sophia. She woke up constantly, dreaming that she was never going to see Sophia ever again. She walked out of the RV, and climbed the ladder to the top of the RV where Rick was at.

"Morning" the deputy greeted her.

"Morning…" Carol replied.

"Couldn't sleep?" Rick asked.

"No, I maybe got 2 hours of sleep the entire night… either I was crying, tossing or turning; or waking up from a nightmare."

"Come over here and take a seat, relax and hang out with me." She sat down next to Rick, but on the top of the RV, not in a seat.

Rick grabbed the blanket that they had up there for the people on watch, and passed it to her. "Here, cover yourself up, it is getting cold out. We need you to be healthy when we find Sophia." He said smiling down at her. Carol looked up, gave him a quick smile, took the blanket from him, and unfolded it. Wrapping her lower body with the blanket, she sat there in silence reading a book that she found in the RV. Rick looked down at her, not wanting to disturb her.

They sat there in a comfortable silence for at least a half hour when there was movement near the side of the RV. Slowly, Daryl appeared up the ladder. Carol looked up from the book, and over in Daryl's direction, and smiled a faint smile, and then looked back down at the book.

"I couldn't sleep, so I'll take over." Daryl said talking to Rick.

"You sure?" Rick asked Daryl.

"Ya better go before I change my mind." Daryl laughed.

Rick nodded his head, and quickly got up the chair and walked away. Daryl sat down in the chair, looked down at Carol, who's head was buried in the book.

"Whatca reading?" he asked.

"Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen." Carol replied still reading the page she was on.

Carol went back to the book, and read two more lines before Daryl interrupted her again. "What 'bout them?" Carol sighed. "It's about Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne." She dog-eared the page, and closed the book, knowing she wasn't going to get any more reading done this morning. "You are mighty talkative this morning." Carol looked up smiling at him and let out a little chuckle. Daryl furrowed his eye brows at her, trying to hide a smile.

"I can't read all that well." Daryl admitted. "I mean, I can read, but I get lost reading big books like that one."

"I can help you out."

The statement snuck out of Carol's mouth before she even realized it. Her lack of sleep turned off her filter. Daryl looked over at her, with a questioning look.

"Uh, sure… if you want to." Daryl sounded a little confused.

Nobody has ever offered to help him out. Nobody ever helped a Dixon out, willingly anyways. It was as if the last name scared people away. Sometimes it was also the people who knew Daryl, also knew Merle. And Merle has a history, and others compared Daryl to Merle. They never gave Daryl the chance to prove himself. Carol was a different kind of person. She allowed him to be his own person, and this is not something that he was used to.

~NLA~

After reading the first chapter of "Pride and Prejudice", her eyes started to get heavy. It was relaxing sitting up here with Daryl. He listened in, and paid attention to what she was saying, even asking questions about some words he didn't know. Carol look the time to explain what they meant and Daryl nodded quietly when he understood it.

The sun slowly started creeping up on the horizon, and Daryl tapped her on the shoulder, interrupting her in mid-sentence. Carol looked up from the book, and was greeted by the warm orange and red tones of the sun peeking up from the trees. She leaned closer to Daryl, which made him feel a little off as he always kept his distance from people, some by his choice, but mostly by others. They quietly watched the sun come up together. Carol smiled a big smile, and Daryl allowed a small smile to creep out before he realized it. It was gone as soon as he realized what happened.

He stared out towards the sun for a while, when he felt a slight weight being applied to his thigh. He looked down and saw Carol leaning on him while getting some much needed sleep. He fought the temptation to move here, as she was in his personal bubble, but something stopped him. He reached down and moved the blanket that seemed to lose its place from her shoulder, and covered her exposed shoulder back up. Carol let out a slight moan, and a sigh. She moved her head a little bit, and found a comfortable place, nuzzling her head into his thigh. Daryl let out a sigh, and just relented and allowed Carol to get her much needed sleep.

About an hour of being there, Carol woke up suddenly breathing heavily.

"Nightmare?" Daryl asked.

"Yea, I dreamt that Sophia was dead, and I wasn't ever going to see my baby again" Carol spoke out with a strained voice.

Daryl sighed. "I won't let that happen. After someone replaces me on watch, I am heading out to track her. We will find her."

"I sure hope so." Carol said leaning her head back onto his thigh.

It was just then that she realized that she did that. "Oh my, I am so sorry." Carol said jerking her head up from his thigh. "Don't worry about it. It's alright. You need your sleep."

Carol looked up at him, and smiled. Slowly leaning her head back on his thigh, she quietly closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

~NLA~

It was about 8am approximately when Dale climbed up the ladder to take over watch. Expecting to find Rick up there, he was quite shocked to see Daryl up there, and even more shocked to see Carol sleeping next to him.

"Morning Daryl" Dale said as he got closer.

"Hey" Daryl said quietly not to wake up Carol.

The movement of the RV caused Carol to stir awake. Her eyes fluttered open, and the sun shined into her eyes. Using her hand to block the sun from her eyes, she noticed that hours had passed since she was last awake.

"Good Morning, Dale." Carol said as she stretched out her arms. Flexing her neck to the left and the right to get the kink out of it. She noticed that she was still next to Daryl, and remembered that they spent the night together.

Daryl got up from his seat, and let Dale sit down. "Now that Dale is here, I am going to look for Sophia." Daryl said walking to the end of the RV. "Not that I don't want you to look for her, but don't you think you should get some sort of sleep?" Carol asked. Daryl let out a chuckle. "Nah, I'm good." he said heading down the ladder. Carol scrambled to her feet, and caught him as he jumped from the bottom rail. "Be careful." Carol pleaded.

That made Daryl laugh out loud, "Nothing kills a Dixon but a Dixon." he said as he winked and walked away.

~NLA~

Sophia woke up to the sound of a woodpecker tapping away at a tree. She rolled out of the bed, sat up on the edge and stretched. It was one of the best night's sleep she has had in a very long time. Her stomach grumbled when stood up. Heading down the stairs, she walked over to the cabinet where she had her food stashed away. She opened a can of vegetables using the fire poker she found the day prior. She didn't know how to build a fire, as one of the adults always did it, so she was stuck eating them cold. Although she wasn't a fan of eating vegetables, but it was something.

She finished up the can, and her stomach still grumbled. She headed out of the kitchen and headed towards the back of the house. Looking out the large picture window of the dining room, she noticed an apple tree with some apples still on it. Her mouth started watering at the sight of the apples. There were some that appeared to be low enough that she could grab them.

Looking to her right, she saw a door that lead outside. She tried the door knob, it was locked. She unlocked the door, and it creaked open. There was cobweb right out of the door. Spiders creeped Sophia out, so she let out a little scream. Crinkling up her face, she used the poker to get rid of the web. "Blech, yucky!" Sophia said as she looked at the end of the poker with the web on it.

Walking down the steps, the stairs groaned under her weight. Looking to her right and her left to make sure there weren't any walkers around her. Half way to the tree, she bent down to clean the web off of the poker so she didn't get any on the apples she was hoping to gather. Not seeing anything, so she slowly walked to the apple tree. She reached the apple tree, and still looking around at her surroundings. She used the now clean poker to grab onto a branch and dragged it to her level. She was able to grab an apple off of the tree. "Eww, there are bugs on this one." as she threw it into the woods behind the house. She reached for the next one. That one was a good one. She put that one on the ground. She started gathering several apples when she heard some nearby moaning.

She quickly turned around and saw a walker closing in on her. She scrambled from the walker, to only trip over her stock pile of apples. The walker got closer, as she crab walked away from it, trying to get back on her feet. The walker was about 5 feet away from her at that point. She grabbed the poker; she closed her eyes, and thrust it forward.

Sophia waited there for what felt like an hour. She didn't hear any more moaning, and didn't feel any pain. She slowly opened her eyes to find the poker shoved into the eye socket of the walker. She slowly let out the breath that she was holding, and pushed the walker to the right. The body fell to the ground, and made an awkward thump. That was her first ever kill. It was oddly refreshing.

She removed the poker from the walker's eye, and used the grass to clean it off. She walked over to her pile of apples and grabbed all of them. She made her way back to the house, and set them down on the counter. Walking over to the sink, she tried the faucet. Water slowly came out of the faucet. She was able to clean off the apples, and placed them on the other counter to dry. Realizing that she had water that she could use, she ran up the stairs to where she left her dirty clothes, and grabbed them. She came back down stairs to clean them in the sink. While exploring the house last night, she found the laundry room. She remember that there was some powder laundry soap in there, so she run to the laundry room and grabbed it.

Filling in the sink with water, she added some of the soap to the water. She remembered how her mom did it back at the quarry, but she didn't have the wash board, so she washed her shirt and shorts to the best of her ability. She pulled it out of the sink, after washing the soap off of them. "My mom would have done this better…" Sophia whined. She looked out the main window, and found a low hanging branch. She grabbed the wet clothes and the poker, and headed out to the tree out front. Using the poker to lower the branch to her level, she threw the shirt and shorts over the branch to dry. After she slowly let the branch go, she sat down on the ground Indian style, and whimpered.

"I just want my mommy back…" as a tear fell from her eye.


	7. You'll Be In My Heart

***AN: Sorry this update took so long, I got it done as quickly as I could. I was part of a wedding, and I had a final to finish. But regardless, I hope you like this chapter as much as I do. Don't forget to review me!****  
**

**Also, I wasn't sure if my dislike for the cocky bastard that is Shane was portrayed very well, but needless to say, I severely dislike cocky people.***

**Chapter 7**

After sitting on the ground for a few minutes, Sophia heard her mother's voice whispering to her to calm down. Standing up, she wiped the fresh tears from her eyes, and sniffled. She heard some rustling in the woods near the house, and a walker emerged from the trees. She grabbed the poker from its resting place on the ground and ran towards the walker, jamming the walker in the forehead with the sharp end of the poker. The walker quickly crumpled to the ground.

She pulled the poker out of the walker's forehead and cleaned it off with the grass. She heard more moaning coming from behind her, and saw a walker that was not much older than her. She put him out of his misery by putting the poker into eye socket.

"I can't stand this anymore. I just want to find my mom, and be with her. I miss her so much."

She headed back into the house, and went back up to the bedroom. She closed the door, and Crawled up into a ball on the bed and cried herself to sleep.

~NLA~

It had been a several hours since he left the area were the group was at to go looking for Sophia. He followed her to a lake. While he was on the search, he killed several walkers, and also found some squirrels and some small rabbits to bring back to the group for dinner. He decided that it was getting close to time to give up for the day. He found several signs of her along the day. It gave him faith that he would find her. He was too stubborn to give up.

Heading back the way he came, he followed his path littered with bodies of walkers. He killed at least 5 of them this day alone. He gutted all of them to make sure that Sophia didn't end up as its snack. He didn't think Carol could handle losing her daughter. Sophia was the one who kept her alive, considering all that she went through with Ed. That was plain to see. Even the most oblivious of people could see that. He walked on until he was the clearing in which he came from.

He emerged from the woods, and was greeted by T-Dog.

"Hey" T-Dog said as Daryl handed him his finds from the woods. T-Dog unwillingly accepted it, and walked toward the RV with them. "Just what I wanted, squirrel on a string." He muttered as he entered the RV.

Rick saw Daryl heading back to Meryl's bike, and opened the bag that was attached the side of it. Rick walked over the hunter. "Any luck?" Rick questioned.

"Nah, but I did find a trail, and I followed it to a lake. It started to get late, so I headed back. I plan to go back again tomorrow. I will find that girl, dead or alive."

"Hopefully alive." Rick stated, following up with a sigh.

"Yah." Daryl grunted as he opened the pill bottle, and then popped a pain pill in his mouth.

~NLA~

Dinner was a quiet one; they were able to feast on the food that was scavenged from the abandoned cars. The sun had set, and everyone was sitting around the fire. Carol was sitting on the ground with her knees close to her face. It appeared like she was just a shell of a person. Daryl stalked over to her and sat down next to her.

"Hey" Carol mumbled quietly, almost too low to be heard.

"I found her trail," Daryl looked over her direction, noticing that her face light up "But it was getting too dark to track her, so I came back. I'm going to go back first thing in the morning though." That earned him a slight smile.

"Thank you…" Carol said looking down to the ground.

"Anytime" Daryl said, staring into the fire.

~NLA~

Daryl still sat down by the fire, watching the embers glowing. Everyone had since gone to sleep, in exception to Shane, who was on watch. Walking toward the RV to get his sleeping bag that was in the back of one of the vehicles, Shane stopped him.

"Hey!" Shane drawled.

Daryl didn't care for the man, thought of him as stuck up bastard, so he responded curtly. "Ya, what do you want?"

Shane looked down to him, with his hands on his hips, "Do ya think we will find her? I think we are wasting our time, she is probably zombie chow by now."

Daryl huffed, "Ya, we will." Grabbing his sleeping bag, he walked over to the open space they cleared and tried to catch some sleep.

Sleep didn't come easily for him, as expected. Giving up, he got up and walked over to the RV and relieved Shane of watch. Sitting there calmly just enjoying the calm breeze, it wasn't too much later that he felt the RV moving. Carol appeared at the top of the ladder, with a book in her hand.

"Fancy seeing you here." Carol smiled as she reached to her spot next to Daryl.

"Couldn't sleep. What else could I do, so I kicked Shane off watch." Daryl said "He left faster than a starving walker devouring a fresh meal."

Carol let out a chuckle, which made Daryl laugh.

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, when Carol broke the silence.

"I couldn't sleep either. Would you like for me to read some more?"

Daryl grunted, "Ya"

Carol began to read some more of the book, and this continued for at least an hour before Carol started to get tired.

She started to scoot down to lay her head on the pillow left there by someone else, when Daryl looked down at her. "What are you doing?"

"Laying down" she murmured in a sleepy voice.

"Lay your head here," patting the side of his left thigh, "It's more comfortable."

Carol looked up at him puzzled. "You don't seem the type to like people leaning all over you."

"I don't."

"Then why?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders and said "I don't know…"

~NLA~

The sun greeted Sophia with warmth this morning, and the birds sang along. Life almost felt like it was before the world went to hell, in exception that she was alone, in a stranger's home, and hungry. She has never been away from her mom for longer than a day when she would spend the night over her aunt's house to get away from her father. That was before her aunt died from cancer. After her aunt passed away, there were many nights when her mom would cradle her in her arms and sing her a song by Phil Collins.

Her thoughts wandered back to the one night that her father left them to go to the bar. That was a regular occurrence. This night stuck out to her, in particular. She would often spend time with her mom while Ed was out drinking away their extra money that should have been used for other needed things, but Ed never gave a shit about anyone else other but himself. He was a class act like that.

Ed had just yelled at Sophia for not doing something to his liking, and she ran to her room and cried. After Carol took a beating for not raising his child correctly, Ed left to drown out his life with cheap beer and cigarettes. Carol picked herself up and headed to her daughter's room. The door creeped open and she noticed her daughter on the floor in the fetal position crying her eyes out, hugging the teddy bear that her aunt got her a few months before she died.

Carol sat down on the floor near her sobbing child, and grabbed a hold of her. She started to hum a familiar tune to one of Sophia's favorite songs. They quietly sang together.

_Come stop your crying__  
__It will be alright_  
_Just take my hand_  
_Hold it tight_

Sophia looked up at her, and smiled thinking about how strong her mother must be to put up with the asshole of a man her father is. The thought of her father beating on her mother made tears fall from her eyes.

_I will protect you__  
__From all around you_  
_I will be here_  
_Don't you cry_

Carol used her sleeve to wipe the tears from her daughter's eyes. "Shhhhh, baby girl… shhhh". Carol wiped the tears away from her daughter's eyes, and started to rock her softly and ran her fingers though her hair. The rocking made Sophia drift off into an easy slumber. Carol continued to sing softly to her daughter to make sure that she was finally asleep.

_From this day on__  
__Now and forever more_  
_You'll be in my heart_  
_No matter what they say_  
_You'll be here in my heart_  
_Always_

~NLA~

The sun rose and off Daryl went back into the woods, leaving behind the others behind to do whatever they are going to do to waste time. He made his way back to where he stopped yesterday.

He was the happiest when he was in the woods, were there was no one around to judge him for his past, and his family. No one knew him out there; he could do as he pleased without someone pointing their finger at them like they are all high and mighty.

Looking around the lake to see if there were any tracks around, and he didn't see any. "Musta swam it." He walked in the wood near to the edge of the lake, and followed it for about a half mile, when his foot got caught in an exposed root, bringing him to the ground straight on his knee.

Dislodging his foot from the root, he cursed up a storm at it, as if it was going to be offended by his words. Looking up, he noticed a house in the clearing. He removed his foot from the root, and He walked to the bank, and saw something hanging from the tree that appeared to look like clothes.

Familiar clothes.

He turned fast and headed towards the direction of the house, taking down some walkers in the process. He ran as fast as his feet would carry him. He was a man on a mission.

He wanted to find her.

He needed to find her.

He will find her.

Or die trying.

~NLA~

Carol walked around, searching the cars for things that Sophia would like. Make her feel like she has some sense of home in this crazy world.

She was heading back towards the RV with some clothes that she found in a car that she thought that should fit her, and saw Lori. Lori looked green, as if she just threw up.

"Are you ok?" Carol asked.

"Yea," Lori sighed clutching her stomach from the pain. "I think I must have eaten something bad."

Carol walked over to her and rubbed her back, and tried to comfort her.

The two stood there in silence for a while, when Lori started to gag some more. Lori ran to the side of the road and throw up some more. Carol continued to rub her back, knowing how it felt when she was pregnant with Sophia. It was then that the light bulb went off.

Lori was leaned over, hands on the guard rail. Carol leaned her head forward, so she could speak only to Lori.

"Could you be pregnant?" Carol asked quietly.

"I don't know…" Lori said sobbing. "And if I am, I don't know who the father is."

Carol's head snapped to Lori's direction.

Lori sobs grew heavier. "When I thought Rick was dead, I was lonely; and Shane was there…"

Carol closed her eyes and sighed.

"Regardless of who the father truly is, it will be loved."


End file.
